Russia is currently considering the possibility of initiating a draft decision of the UN Human Rights Council on the protection of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa. Russian experts are now working on this document.

In addition, at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel on December 4-5, the Russian side will be calling for a thorough analysis of the processes leading to “Christianophobia” in the Middle East and the broader region. The scale of the problems demands the coordination of international efforts to protect Christians in the Middle East. Further initiatives, new measures and relevant discussions aimed at finding durable solutions in this regard are strongly needed. Of course, we believe that Europe, including the UK, should make its contribution to these efforts, taking into account the Christian roots of the European civilization, which are now often forgotten for the sake of political correctness.

Today the Middle East is at the very top of the international agenda. The wave of conflicts in the Arab world affects the interests not only of the region but also of the world’s leading players and can have far-reaching consequences, including in the context of intercultural and inter-religious relations. The fate of the region’s religious minorities is of the greatest concern. The mass exodus of Christians, who have been an integral part of the Middle Eastern mosaic for centuries, is particularly troubling.

The war in Syria between government forces and numerous extremist and terrorist groups is continuing. In fact, this country has been turned into a hotbed of international terrorism. Extremists, gathered from around the world, are causing chaos, destroying the cultural and demographic lifestyle that has been formed for centuries, creating an atmosphere of intolerance. The extremists in Syria aim at a genocide of ethno-religious minorities — Christians, Alawites, Kurds.

You may know that ISIL (the Islamic State) has levied head tax on all Christians staying in the respective territories. Moreover, Christians are prohibited from building new and repairing old churches and monasteries. They cannot place crosses on their temples, organize services outside their cult buildings, ring bells or organize sacred processions, or distribute religious attributes or literature. Women are obliged to wear traditional Muslim clothes and cover their heads.

This is only the official policy. In reality, Christians have suffered torture, the shelling of residential areas, schools and other civilian targets, and hostage-taking. Such a situation brings the modern Syrian society, which has always been characterized by the peaceful and respectful co-existence of different ethnic and confessional groups, back to medieval times. All that is absolutely contrary to the true values of Islam as one of the major world religions.

A protester carries a cross during a demonstration against militants of the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Arbil, north of Baghdad July 24, 2014 (Reuters).

And as the Syrian conflict continues, more reasons appear to seriously fear for the fate of the 2000-year presence of Christianity in this land. At best, we can expect a repeat of the 2003 scenario in Iraq, where the Christian presence has decreased dramatically — from 1.5 million to 150 thousand people.

Regarding Syria, we have always been stressing the need for the Syrian authorities and the opposition to reach a common ground in the fight against extremism. Unfortunately, some of our Western and regional partners adhere to a different point of view and bet on overthrowing Bashar Assad and supporting the armed opposition. As a result, such groups as the Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra, and others have emerged and gained ground.

Moscow is also deeply concerned over the persecution of religious minorities living in northwestern Iraq by ISIL militants, forcing thousands of Christians and representatives of other faiths to leave their homes. Moreover, extremists openly declare their intention to throw the whole region of the Middle East and North Africa into the abyss of religious wars. They try to impose on Muslims an unacceptable attitude towards other confessions. Such aggressive and systematic actions of Islamic radicals against particular groups of Iraqi society motivated by religious hatred are completely unacceptable and criminal. We are convinced that jihadists’ attempts to bet on inter-religious conflict and undermine the historical tradition of peaceful co-existence of different faiths on Iraqi soil should be countered in the most decisive and robust way. We favor the achievement of consensus between the political and national forces in Iraq, which subsequently would become the basis for the stabilization of the Iraqi society.

In order to effectively address the terrorist challenge, it is imperative to understand its roots and real scale and to develop a comprehensive strategy. The resolve to fight all forms and manifestations of terrorism without distinguishing between “bad” and “good” terrorists has always been at the center of international anti-terrorist efforts. Regrettably, in the Middle East and North Africa this cornerstone principle has begun to fail and was repeatedly sacrificed for the desire to change a regime in this or that country.

Preventing the persecution of Christians in this part of the world is one of Russia’s foreign policy priorities. We are pursuing a consistent policy in favor of the implementation of reforms in an evolutionary way, taking into account the historical and cultural features of the peoples living in this region. The most important element of our position is to promote a political settlement of the various crises on the basis of international law, without outside interference, by ensuring the recognition and respect for the rights of all ethnic and religious groups.

The statement “On the brutal and mass violations of the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in connection with the worsening situation in Syria and Iraq” adopted by the State Duma of the Russian Federation on November 14 is the most recent manifestation of Russia’s strong position on the protection of Christians in the Middle East. The document notes the deep concern over the rapidly deteriorating situation in Syria and Iraq-related terrorist activity that lead to mass violence against religious and ethnic minorities. The statement calls on the international community to take action against terrorism in the region, including by cutting off all sources of assistance and funding. The State Duma urges for developing common approaches to counter terrorism in the Middle East and insists that these should be coordinated by the UN….

Comments

Isn’t it ironic a country which during it’s days as the Soviet Union suppressed Christianity now wants to be a Defender of the Faith. And where does our dear Jihad Jamoke in the White stand on this issue, usually on the Putting green.

He’s helping Turkey backed ISIS slaughter thousands of innocent people, while he tries to tear down your country. You have a very cold hearted corrupt leader, a criminal. Unlike Putin who is fighting for his people and his country against the brotherhood lead UN EU NATO, US oppression.

I love how Putin stands for the ME Chistians especially as the West couldn’t care less seemingly.
The only problem is,his ties and supplies to Iran ! Why is he keeping close ties with that rogue country and helping them technologically ??
As much as I admire him in some ways, I believe he is a shrewd politician and so I cannot trust him completely .
We will see.

Putin will always serve his/Russia’s interest first. If that means propping up iran in order to maintain Russian influence in the region, so be it. Russia uses iran as a check against US and her “allies” in the gulf (saudi, uae, qatar, etc) and – to a lesser extent – the subcontinent (pak). The Russian gamble is that she believes iran would not point its weapons at Russia. This is certainly true at the moment, but situations can and do sometimes change.

Putin’s new initiative to save Christians in the Middle East may end up nowhere. It may perhaps disappear altogether into the blackhole known as the UN. However, this intention of his will win him support in Russia and certainly parts of what remains of the Christian world – initially at least. Furthermore, all this effort could very well deflect some negative attention he/Russia has been receiving regarding ukraine.

What a screw-up topsy-turvy world we live in, when the dictator of Russia is the one standing up against oppression and evil in the Middle East, and the president of the United States is the one enabling and standing back to let the oppression and evil fester! How has the world of the 21st Century ended up in this position?

I don’t know if you are being sarcastic or not Terry, I assume you are, we understand Russia is no beacon of light, but Obama is arming jihadists around the globe sadly. Reagan did some good, but he still was in the open us up to globalism camp, and after those 300 marines got killed he didn’t at least take out Hezbollah, I never got why he didn’t at least to that.

With a few heroic examples to the contrary, European countries have been nearly indifferent to the fate of Christians in the Biblical lands. After the costly crusades, Europeans understandably had little desire to reengage the Muslim world in warfare. Today, the Arab countries are fighting the jihadists, so it’s a different ballgame. Hopefully, the Arab dictatorships will join in this enterprise of protecting the INDIGENOUS CHRISTIAN PEOPLES of the Middle East.

I don’t know if your into the Bible or not, but Holy God in Heaven! Things are happening faster than the speed of light in Bible scripture in these times, the world is about to explode into chaos ! And right now Russia is our only hope of fighting it! Someone needs to remove Obama!

This does not surprise e one bit, since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Russia has been in a Christian revival the country has gone from 30% to 78% growth of Christians . If anyone will lead the world to do battle against Islam it will be Russia, not the US, the US is far to liberal . Yup it will be the Christians of the orthodox churches! Greece Italy Spain will join with the Eastern Orthodox Christians Italy is seeing a Christian uprising, along with Greece, they will all band together with Russia. brotherhood turkey liberal controlled NATO won’t make much difference. Recent report out 8000 Christians slaughtered in Kenya , 100, 48, 30, 38, all before that , how much blood do the godless liberals want ? Hearts of cold stones while they scream rights for all, what a farce they are. Now ISIS is in talks with Taliban and al Q and other groups to band together in Pakistan and take over the north regions , ISIS goal is to get the nukes, and the slaughter one reporter said will be massive , as Pakistan is the most radical Islamic country over there, 98% are in favour of the caliphate. Again I ask, how much blood do the stone cold bleeding heart liberals want? Is it Islamophobic to ignore all the killing going on in the Middle East and North Africa ? Is it? Yeah we need the gas chambers alright to punish the murderers, or is that to anti liberal to say that?

And one should note that among these Christians in the middle east, esp in Iraq and Syria and Lebanon, are many who are Catholics, not Eastern Orthodox.

So what we see here is a country whose Christian population is majority-Orthodox, proposing to stand up on behalf of all the remnant Christians of the “Middle East”.

I’m actually not surprised.

But just imagine how different things might be if someone like Allen West (who is an old-fashioned black American Christian) were POTUS; and if he had had a good, long, quiet read of what John Quincy Adams – who had spent time in Russia – had to say about Russia (which JQA sees as a country that, despite its many flaws, was deeply culturally influenced by Christianity) and about Islam, in his 1829 essays about the Russo-Turkish wars and the Greek struggle for independence. JQA saw clearly that the bottom line was 1/ the Russian Christian self-defence against Jihad, and 2/ the Greek Christian struggle to shake off their Muslim oppressors. And in both of those he was solidly on the side of the non-Muslim parties.

Imagine the conversation then: a JQA-educated White House to the Kremlin: “How many of these mortally-endangered Christians in the Middle East can we fit onto our troop-carrying aircraft and/ or troopships? And how do we go about gathering them up and getting them out…and obliterating a whole buncha jihadis in the process, just to make the point. How many mosques can we flatten? Let’s go kick jihadi azz and rescue innocent Infidels into the bargain.
” Or, alternatively, let’s learn from the fiasco in the Balkans. We freely admit it was damn stupid of Clinton to help the Muslims carve a Muslim-only state out of Serbia. But…given that precedent; sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander; let’s put our heads together NOW and figure out how to create a viable and militarily-defensible NON-MUSLIM state – majority-Christian – centred on, say, Mont Liban and/ or in the most-historically-Christian part of Syria: seaport, mountains, some farmland; every last Muslim turfed out into Islamised Mesopotamia, and then our new Lebanese and or Syrian Christian nation/s guarnateed and armed to the hilt – by BOTH of us – and placed under our joint nuclear umbrellas: notice served to the Ummah, you lay just one dirty claw on our little friends here, and you will get OBLITERATED with extreme prejudice. And how’s about the Copts, while we’re at it? – Nova Aegyptia in the Sinai and Gaza, with Infidel control of the vital Suez transport corridor – does that sound like a plan? And the Ethiopian Christians? How’s about we *both* help *them* turf out the Muslims and *keep* them out? Time for serious pushback against jihad.

“*We’ll* STOP arming and paying money to Sunni Muslims – anywhere, starting with the Abominable House of Saud – and *you* STOP protecting Iran’s nuke project and, instead, give us a hand to turn it – AND Pakistan’s existing nukes – into …great big holes of nothing. Let’s neither of us waste even one more cent or one more ruble in “tribute”, “jizya” or bribes, to *any* Muslim extortionists, *anywhere*. Let’s concentrate on making the world safer for Infidels – Russian, American, and everybody else. DEAL?”

The only reservation I have is that Muslim states will group together, and not allow trade to pass between the West and East. This is what happened in the Ottoman empire, and led to the West to find a way to the East via the NW passage.

One needs tp think of a way that allows a clear passage from the Med sea to the Persian gulf, by land and sea, and then its clear way to China India etc.

A global war is coming, of that I have no doubt. The victor will insist that the defeated change their cultural and ideological foundations – just as we did with Germany and Japan. If we lose, the victor will insist that the West adopt sharia. Thats only fair.

Islam is a religion that exists solely for loot and war booty. This means they have to win. If they lose big, then Muslims will change to the winning side. Osama BL knew that.

As a Jew, whose history is filled with endless persecution, crusades, blood libels, expulsions, pogroms, discrimination, hatred and abuse, I did a double take while reading this article.
The way the christians are being treated rang a very familiar bell to me.
In this day and age, Jews and Christians have mended relations and enjoy mutual respect with each other. And I think that everyone should care about how the Muslims are abusing their christian populations. Those people feel so alone and abandoned, and they NEED the caring world’s help. Instead, they are being met with relative indifference, and I hope that the UN addresses the real persecutions and genocide that is being carried out right now to these helpless christians.

Dear RK ; the United Nations is a lot of talking ; and really intervening with business is not their strongpoint . At most the U.N. are sending some peace-keepers with a mandate of not firing one shot . We have seen that so many times . Peace-keeping forces beïng abducted/kidnapped , terrorized and/or killed . Why should it be different now ? However , Russia is ” protecting it’s interests ” in the Middle East ( Syria , Iraq and Iran. And assisting Iran with it’s ” peaceful ” nuclear program which might harm Israel . Since when are muslims peaceful in their final intentions,and in this case Iran ? Mmmmmmmmm , Russia’s intentions have nothing to do with those poor oppressed , robbed , displaced and murdered Christians in the M.E. . It’s all about POWER . And who can blame them ? Playing THE BIG GAME . But as I already stated : it could harm Israel a lot . And that should make you think again . : with the best regards : Ernie

Are you kidding, the UN wouldn’t have the nuts to even hear this, The OIC would shout it down or walk out of the discussions.They would probably use the excuse of the “poor Palestinians” as the reason for their disgust in the UN. Their rich oil sheikhs will shower money untold to the lefterds throughout the west, mobilizing armies of human rights protesters. Lets not forget of course their favorite complaint. The insult of their religion, and the conspiracy theories of islamaphobia, oh yes I can already hear the weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth!

The Russian Federations Muslim minority comprises a significant percentage of that countries population. Therefore policies have to be developed to contain the aspirations of those attracted to the current radicalized climate. If part of this new engagement involves speaking out in support of persecuted Christian, Zoroastrian, Druze, Buddhist and other religious minorities through Eurasia then this is commendable. It would also be a good idea for the Russian Federation to reign in the current wave of Ultra Nationalism sweeping the land, as Russia, like any other country is not an island and needs to develop some friendship and trust with many of its neighbors, including Slavic kin, if it is to hold together in the years ahead. It would be a shame if the current Russian leadership risked fighting on two fronts.

Very good. Now maybe Russia will stop helping Iran develop nukes which they want to use against Israel, a country with a million Russian speakers, about a third of whom are at least partly Christian.
Also, maybe Putin can call off his dogs in Ukraine. The last I checked, Ukraine was predominantly Christian.
Face it, Putin is into power, pure and simple, and anyone, Christian or not, who gets in his way is out of luck.

Yes, agree 100%.
In the 1850´s Britain and France rushed to the aid of their Turkish Muslim allies and stopped the Russians driving the Muslim invaders out of Europe back across the Dardennells, liberating Constantinople in the process.

Of course, the UN will do nothing to protect Christians—but paying lip service or even making the effort to try to get the UN to pay lip service is a symbolic step in the right direction, and more than the West is doing.

As others have noted, Putin is still playing footsie with genocidal Iran, so I am under no illusions here. But credit where it is due.

Honestly it reminds of stalin an atheist that hated and persecuted religion but when the nazis invaded russian he used religion on his favor to win the war, and once he won the war he started persecuting religion and it’s estimated that betwen 12 to 20 million christians were killed under communism..
I’m not saying that putin is an atheist who hates religion like stalin, but like stalin he is using religion to win popularity during hard times for Russia.

You may not want to believe this but Vladimir Putin was baptized secretly by his mother, a very devout orthodox Christian, and his father a member of the Communist Party was never told about it.

I consider Vladimir Putin as a Christian brother, and no where in the west is there such a man who holds fast to his Orthodox Faith. When Putin says that he will protect the Christians of the Middle East, you can be sure that he will do so with conviction. If only the west had such a Christian leader like Vladimir, it would be a Godsend..

Putin is a real leader, Cameron bends with the wind, Obama is a closet muslim brotherhood, of the three men Putin is by far the better, if he is willing to defend Christianity and western civilisation then all the better, we in our own homelands should elect leaders who are willing to work with him, one saving factor is that at least Obama will soon be gone, the problem is he may be replaced by the awful Hilary “religion of peace” Clinton.

From the article:
“Of course, we believe that Europe, including the UK, should make its contribution to these efforts, taking into account the Christian roots of the European civilization, which are now often forgotten for the sake of political correctness.”

NOTE: The aggressively nonreligious should NOT read what I am about to write here. I address only my fellow Christians. (BTW, I am an Australian; the current Muslim-appeasing Madness of Uncle Sam is very frightening and worrying for me to watch).

To American Christians posting or lurking here: I beg you, pray. Pray for your own nation; *and* PRAY with all your heart for the Russian Federation and for the many faithful Christians who dwell therein, many of whom endured generations of terrible persecution (and whose nation has endured the onslaught of Jihad, from all along their southwestern and southern borders, since long before the USA was created). Pray for good and wise government. Pray too that Russia may be released from its unhealthy relationships with Islamic Turkey and Islamic Iran.

To Russian Christians who may be posting or lurking here, I say, PRAY…for the USA! Don’t indulge in schadenfreude and gloat over an imagined judgement/ destruction of the US; instead, pray for healing! There are still many, many faithful Christians in the USA; Mr Spencer is one of them, and not a few of the others post or lurk here. Many of them prayed for you and tried to help, during the period when you were persecuted by Communist rulers. So: pray! Pray for the USA to experience renewal and healing. And pray that the US will wake up to the reality of Jihad; pray that the US will END *its* unhealthy relationships with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan (and (waay too many other mohammedan parasitic entities to which Uncle Sam currently pays ‘tribute’ or ‘jizya’, aka “aid’). Pray that the next POTUS will be a wise and godly and fearless man who will start saying NO to the Ummah and backing up the NO with deadly force as required.

Who knows what might happen, if faithful Russians pray fervently for… America, and faithful Americans pray fervently for ..Russia? And when *both* pray and fast – and protest and rally and agitate – on behalf of their suffering threatened-with-genocide brethren who are trapped within the lands dominated by Islam?

Still, when it comes to Putin, while it is my prayer his reconciliation to Christianity is indeed genuine, I can’t help but note his depredations against Ukraine, with Estonia very likely also in his sights. Further, there is a clearly an element in his makeup that is rankled by the loss of what he must surely see as Russia’s patrimony. I also fear that some of Putin’s bullying of Ukraine may be due in part to the simple fact that the cradle of Russian Christianity lies in that land. Even Aleksandr Solzhentisyn, who accepted that a Russia-Ukraine divorce was probably both inevitable and just in a post-Communist world, admitted that the idea pained him deeply, not least because he was a Russian Orthodox believer who knew that his faith came to him via Kiev. Frankly, having spent time mourning and lamenting before God over the degeneration of the churches of Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Britain (I am a Calvinist, after all), I think that were I a post-Communist Russian Orthodox believer with any historical sense at all, I would probably feel a deep spiritual wound over the separation of Great Russia and Ukraine.

But while I would certainly commit “race treason” and get up very early in the morning to vote for Allen West in a West-Shrillary Shrooo contest, I can understand why even a conservative Christian POTUS might not talk too loudly in public about defending Christians in the Middle East (or China)–even though he might push a quiet diplomacy urging an end to persecution. Much of the world still insists on seeing the USA as the torch-bearer for the era of Western colonialism and would read a too-vociferous US defense of religious minorities as a re-launch of the Crusades or neo-colonialism. Of course they would be dead wrong, but in politics, whether local or international, perception and image are usually far more important than realities.

This being said, I will freely admit that as an American, a former diplomat, and as a Christian, I feel disgraced by a US diplomacy that bullies African countries for keeping laws against sodomy on the books and cares not a fig for the Christians of the Middle East. Further, I continue to pray for those suffering persecution because they belong to Christ.

Thanks for your post.
Allow me to add: pray for the conversion of our Muslim brothers in humanity. May the Light of Christ shine upon them.
Muslims are leaving Islam by the millions, pray that this trend may continue to grow and becomes openly public.
As a first step, they leave Islam and turn to atheism. Then, they embrace the Truth: Christ the King.

Putin said in October that he was going to change the global power structure.

In the name of freedom and democracy the west has recreated the Caliphate in all of its genocidal Islamic madness. We’ve totally ignored history and religion in the name of political correctness because an honest evaluation would show us our ideals of equality and liberty are not represented in Islamic culture.

We destroyed the Serbs & created two Islamic States in Europe.

I don’t care how powerful you are you can’t ignore history, and cultural reality forever.

Looks like Russia is willing to tell the truth, lead, and ironically make a stand for western civilization where we will not.

Putin’s daughter goes to a Christian church ……..a subtle hint if you will, I spoke to a high ranking ex KGB Agent recently, don’t be surprised should it come out that Putin is a believer of Christ in the next few years…..

Putin puts the so called WESTERN LEADERS to shame………..as well as this cynical Pope who is bending over backwards in Turkey to establish DIALOGUE with ISLAM and has said that he will hold the door open for talks with ISIS. Dream on Francis at least Benedict asked “Is this all that we can expect from Islam”
All on the eve of Asia Bibi’s execution.

And of course he will come back from Turkey to a fanfare of sycophantic adulation, a resounding success, somehow i think the lustre has left this man, who like all his predecessors cultivate a cult of popularity.

It’s easy to be cynical about Putin’s intentions in this proposed initiative to protect Christians in the Middle East. His critics say he wants to be the new Czar and defense of Christianity is one of the Czar’s badges of honor. But this misses the point. Putin simply isn’t hidebound by the political correctness and philoislamic obscurantism that afflicts western authorities. He sees clearly where Islam today is going; and that is where Islam has always gone: into conflict with the infidel. I think people in the West should cheer Putin on in this. He understands jihadist ideology because of Chechnya and refuses to bury his head in the sand. What with the Pope’s speech to the EU and now this: perhaps we’re finally seeing some push-back against the insidious creeping infiltration of our civilization by benighted medieval barbarism.

He sends a clear message —- I am disgusted that the Democratic LIBERAL PARTY has let BHO
get away with so much treason —-BHO is vile -evil -disgusting and the liar clearly showing his muslim intent of tyranny. Both parties are to blame here because there are Islamists embedded on both sides and they are working with bho and his MBrotherhood to destroy our Western Culture.
We need a move on the pretender and his Nazi-MB. Would it happen?

I really don’t care what his reasons are. He is a politician so of course as a politician he will do what all politicians do, but that doesn’t matter, it is the results that matter. If he can use the might of the Russian military and/or coordinate some kind of response against what is happening and protect innocent people in the process he should be encouraged. Let’s hope the west despite it being in our DNA to always try to get one over on the Russians take him at his word and offer our support. I know the Russians always want to get one over on us, a shame considering despite our turbulent history we can’t have a mutually beneficial relationship instead of always being at each others throats.

I have know some Russian people in the states they are a civilized and intelligent people who share many of the same beliefs as we in the west do. I always felt it was a tragedy that Communism swept away the Czars in Russia. Every nation has imperialistic ambitions, it is what it is, I hope we can someday find some sort of middle ground with the Russians and have a mutually beneficially arrangement. The whole Ukraine thing was a pointless disaster and was pointless. Let us hope the JV team in Washington can practice mature and pragmatic geo politics for a change.

I do not care what Putin’s motives are that leads to his diplomatic efforts thru the UN to “protect” Christians. No one else is doing a lick. Obama? Every instance that he opens his mouth to pontificate the situation for Christians and Jews is invariably worsened while muslim terrorists are strengthened.

Putin is an Orthodox Christian; Obama a Muslim in black sheep’s clothing. Putin sees and acts having experience ‘the religion of peace’ in his own country. Putin also had the courage to oppose the Militant Gay movement at the time of their Olympics…Obama prefers “As in the Days of Lot”. AND Benjamin Netanyahu, the best leader of the three.

Until they get out of the 7th century I think muslim countries should be excluded from the U.N. I honestly think the U.N is a waste of resources and should simply be disbanded, but I know politically that is most likely impossible.

You have just described pretty much every politician, they always have an ulterior motive for what they do or say. Their is the message that they give to the masses, and then behind closed doors the actual real message and/or reason. All politicians are power hungry and seek more power, it’s the nature of the beast. If it wasn’t for the checks and balances in our system we would have had a dictator ages ago, and despite the checks and balances we’ve come real close to having one. Lincoln was a dictator as was FDR, and Obama is FDR lite. Yes Lincoln was a wannabe dictator, slavery was a mere pretext used in the war over States rights. Lincoln believed federal power and authority trumped states rights. FDR if he could have gotten away with it would have been another Stalin.

Unless I have misunderstood, the sixth paragraph seems to indicate that this persecution is non-Islamic. On the contrary it is exactly Islamic as per the Koran, Hadith, as interpreted by many an Imam. The USA should be leading in the prevention of persecution of Christians, instead our government seems to be silent on the issue. This is a disgrace.

Every time muslims attack in Russia (remember the Moscow theater incident? – and the Beslan children?) – the U.S. media (especially that new york times rag) always blames the leadership in Russia – instead of putting the blame where it belongs – on muslims and their koran.

Other than the hunting down gay thing, since I believe as long as they aren’t harming anyone they should be allowed to live their lives freely and the way they wish, that the western Christian and Catholic community had the same kind of leadership as the Russian Church. We need another warrior pope in this era.

Darren…..Although the Judeo-Christian religion teaches that homosexuality is sinful according to the scriptures they do not hunt down, persecute and often murder gay people as muslims do in muslim countries and Gaza!
They do exactly what is instructed of them in the quran, whereas in the Bible there are no such instructions to believers to commit those heinous crimes!

I’m not talking about here in the west, I mean in Russia. I read some stories that they were attacking gays and what not violently. As to islam yes I know they are much much worse and actually kill gays. You think the gay community would be more vocal on this issue instead of always going after Christians. Christians might disagree with their behavior but I don’t see them trying to hurt or kill them, unlike islam. You want to talk about real homophobia look no further than islam. If they were truly concerned with this supposed homophobia they should tackle the islam issue.

for the persecution of its Christian minority which has intensified since Rouhani’s come to power? Not while Iran supports Putin’s aggression in Ukraine and Eastern Europe-as expanding Rusian power has prority with Putin over protecting Christians.

This is a purely cynical move, which Putin knows will amount to nothing. It’s a propaganda event designed to increase sympathy for Russia among target populations abroad.

The Russian government knows well that these constituencies are largely ignorant of the fact that Russia has itself been oppressing and killing non-Russian Orthodox Christians in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. For example, Greek & Ukrainian Catholics, Ukrainian Orthodox, and various Protestant denominations have been sacrificed the the altar of Russian nationalism, which is ideologically wedded to the Russian Orthodox Church.

If Russia had not blocked the West’s attempts to intervene in Syria last year then the chances are that IS would not have the strength it has now and that the Christians out there would not be facing such persecution.

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